Tag: song of the week

Howlin’ Wolf’s birthday is Saturday and there’s probably nobody out there I’m more influenced by so we’ve got to honor him with our song of the week. Moanin’ at Midnight is easily my favorite Howlin’ Wolf song and one of my favorite songs period. It’s just a dirty, gritty one-chord vamp and I love it. -Heatwave

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of my favorite album, this week’s song is from The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band changed the way musicians would approach the studio. It was groundbreaking on so many levels, and this song is the album’s masterpiece. Some people like to say that Ringo isn’t a good drummer, but his playing on this song was perfect. As was the way Geoff Emerick (studio engineer) made the drums sound. –Landman

It’s World Turtle Day today so I present you with The Turtles for our song of the week. We love harmony driven 60’s pop rock & roll and The Turtles were one of the best creating a lush landscape that had a little bit of dark tone to it. This 1968 tune is one of both of our favorites. –Heatwave

This song makes me just wanna party. Bad ass guitar and harmonica, rockin’ drums, sweaty energy, Howlin’ Wolf…there isn’t much I wouldn’t give to see this live. This guy was dead center in the middle of what lead to rock & roll’s creation. -Landman

If you’re like me, you always thought jazz was boring and never gave it much of a chance. Until Landman convinced me to do a jazz listening experiment, I had never given jazz much thought. But I’ve been listening mostly only to jazz since January and if you know where to look there’s some pretty great stuff. This song pretty much feels like a party. Can’t say I’ve ever heard another jazz song that rocks this much energy. Strangely it’s hard to find much info about Del Simmons except from his obituary so feel free to read about him here. –Heatwave

Since I’m listening to Led Zeppelin at work today, and just read that there are rumors of a reunion later this year…the song of the week goes to the first song I actually learned how to play on the drums. Their first album has always been special for me, and the studio version of this song is sometimes my favorite Zeppelin song. I obviously love the drums, but that guitar line during the verse is just wonderful. The guitar solo on the studio version is also one of my favorite Jimmy Page solos. Enjoy! –Landman

I’m going to First Avenue tonight with my buddy, EZ to see The Zombies. Their 1968 classic, Odessey and Oracle, which didn’t get released until after the band had broken up is one of my all time favorite records and was a big inspiration to us in the studio when we were recording our debut album. The lead single off that album, who’s dreadful performance on the charts led to the album almost never even getting released is my choice for our song of the week. How this song was not a hit completely bewilders me because it’s incredibly catchy and has clever lyrics. –Heatwave

Chris and I went with our friends James and Ben to see John Sebastian at The Dakota Jazz Club last Friday, so this week’s song goes out to The Lovin’ Spoonful. Their songs were inspired by a lot of the same old blues that inspires us! He talked heavily about Mississippi John Hurt at the show, which is one of our favorites. When I listened to their debut album “Do You Believe in Magic” after doing a long blues listening experiment, I developed a whole new appreciation for their music. Here’s a great track from that album. If you like traditional music, check out their deep cuts! –Landman

Happy birthday <a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muddy_Waters”>Muddy Waters</a>! April Fool’s Day just passed and no joke, here’s one of my favorite tunes of his, Still a Fool. This song was recorded way back in 1951 and is one of many blues songs based musically off Catfish Blues originally recorded by <a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Petway”>Robert Petway</a> ten years earlier. Landman hipped me to this song years ago, before I really dug into Muddy’s earlier catalog. From that point, I found that I had a much greater appreciation for Muddy’s late 40’s and early 50’s stuff than his later, better known catalog. –Heatwave

Today’s song of the day comes from “The Father of the Blues”, WC Handy, who died on this date in 1958. He didn’t create the blues – instead he took the regional form of Delta blues and brought it to a national audience with his blues based compositions. Though this song might be considered a blues song, it’s also entered the pantheon of jazz standards. As Landman and I have embarked on our New Orleans and swing jazz listening experiment, I’ve really come to appreciate this tune a lot more. –Heatwave